Mutant 2099 #1

Background

Time for another Marvel Knights 2099 by Robert Kirkman with the same Spidey cameo on the intro page. The last one, Inhumans 2099 #1, November 2004 didn’t do much for me. But what about an issue with a brand-new 2099 character?

Story Details

Let’s review the info on that intro page. It tells us that “A process had been discovered that could eliminate mutant abilities.” A Mutant Registration Act was passed and the super-heroes of the time “banded together to oppose the government.” But they lost and “those who weren’t killed were either imprisoned or went into hiding.” And now, in 2099, “there is a Sentinel on every street corner,” enforcing curfews and cracking down on crime. Which brings us to High School student Chad Channing. We know he’s our titular Mutant because he has a number tattooed on his arm, like the ones tattooed by the Nazis on Jewish concentration camp prisoners. We also know he’s a super-hero because he has a first and last name that start with the same letter or maybe because he’s named after Nirvana’s drummer. At the story’s start, Chad has fallen into a hole where he finds a complex lab containing a large glowing tube of goo with something inside.

We dissolve to a rather silly fight with Chad in his super-hero outfit alongside the Thing. They are taking on the Mole Man’s Subterraneans. The Mole Man is long gone in 2099 and the Subbies are led by some rather stupid and argumentative Mole Man descendants. (The Thing says, “Inbreeding. It’s ruined the Mole Man’s gene pool.”) The Thing knocks the “leaders” back into the hole from which they came and the Subbies obediently follow.

Back at a secret lab in the Janitor’s office of the Baxter Center, which also contains Baxter High School, we learn that the Thing is not Ben Grimm but an artificial body controlled by the brain of Reed Richards, which is what Chad found in the tube of glowing goo. Chad leaves to head home. Along the way, a Sentinel berates him with, “Proceed in an orderly fashion. Curfew for your age group is in one hour, fifteen minutes.” Once out of sight, Chad uses his mutant powers to fly home. Once there, his mother asks him, “How’d things go with Keisha?” which reminds him that he was supposed to be with his girl-friend instead of with Reed. He rushes over to Keisha’s house where her mother tells him, “Don’t let her father see you. He’s liable to hurt you this time.” In her room, Keisha tells him “Just leave. Leave before my dad sees you.” (What is the deal with her dad?) She promises to “talk about this” at school the next day.

Outside Keisha’s house, Chad encounters a Sentinel who tells him, “You are in violation of the curfew for your age group. You will allow me to accompany you home so you can be identified and fined.” Instead, Chad flies away. The Sentinel says, “You are displaying illegal physical abilities. You will surrender at once and allow yourself to have mutant suppression testing and adjustment,” but Chad is already gone. He runs into his house where his father doesn’t move for three panels as he says, “Good. You got home after curfew without being spotted. I don’t think we could afford another fine.”

At school the next day, Chad gets a 58% on his test because he’s been spending too much time as a super-hero. His classmate O’Hara (Miguel?) notices his tattoo and says he didn’t know Chad was a mutant. Chad assures him that he takes his suppression meds.

After class, Chad visits Reed but he is discouraged. “What were you fighting for?” he asks Reed. “Now with mutant suppression drugs, kids don’t have to worry about growing gills when everyone else is worried about acne. The whole world doesn’t have to worry about Magneto taking over New York…Look at me. You’ve given me placebo suppressors (which explains why he has powers) and taken me under your wing. I can move myself and other objects with my mind. (Aha! Powers explained!) I help people, sure…but I’m failing out of school and my girlfriend hates me. I never see my parents, which isn’t so bad, but really? What’s the point?” Reed tells him “The system is flawed. And it’s only getting worse. This crimeless utopia will not last.” “Whatever,” Chad says, as he leaves.

Back at home, his father tells him that “we got your grades this afternoon” but “this could just be an adjustment period” and “your mother and I will save the lecture for the next time you get a bad grade.” He then tells Chad that Keisha called.

Heading to Keisha’s place, Chad uses his powers to cross the city but runs into a battle between a huge mutant and the Sentinels. He rescues some people who would have been caught in the battle, then encounters Reed/Thing (in a Fantasti-car) who tells him, “Those people would be dead now, were it not for you.” He adds, “Sentinels are single-minded. They have one task: uphold the law. Anything else is secondary, including human lives. The system is flawed.” “Hurry up and get to the ‘I told you so’,” says Chad but Reed offers him a ride to Keisha’s instead. There, Keisha tells him she likes him “a lot” and “if your thing is to be forgetful and busy and always messing things up…I’ll live with it.”

Back with Reed, Chad tells him, “Turns out my girlfriend doesn’t hate me. My parents don’t mind me being out. I can bring my grades up. And I am needed.” An alarm goes off and Reed says, “Looks like we’ve got trouble. You up for it?” “Oh yeah,” replies Chad and they head out in the Fantasti-car with Chad yelling, “Woohoo!”

General Comments

After all of the bleak conclusions to the previous Marvel Knights 2099 issues, our twist ending this time is that everything works out fine! I like this as a change of pace and I’m happy to see Chad’s problems are easily solved. (Although there are still Sentinels on the streets enforcing curfew.) I’m not a big 2099 fan so I don’t know if there are hints here that are explained elsewhere. Is the O’Hara in Chad’s class related to Spider-Man 2099 hero Miguel? Are we supposed to know who Keisha’s unseen but apparently violent father is? Why does Chad fall into a hole at the beginning of the story and why does that hole contain a lab with Reed Richards’ brain in it? Was the hole at the Baxter Building, which now contains Chad’s school? Was Chad taking mutant suppression drugs before finding Reed’s brain? And how did he know what to do with the brain? It would be nice to know the answers to these questions, even if Chad is a one-shot character. He is, isn’t he?

Overall Rating

The artwork by Khary Randolph is a little too cartoony for my taste but it does fit the rhythm of the book. Pleasant, a little bit silly and cute, nothing ground-breaking. Call it three webs.

Footnote

Next: One more of this series to go: Punisher 2099 #1.